


Here, At The End Of All Things

by betweentheheavesofstorm



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: (so far) - Freeform, Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, F/M, One Shot, but if u want to imagine an alternative to 8x04 here u go, written/set after 8x02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 06:16:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18565615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betweentheheavesofstorm/pseuds/betweentheheavesofstorm
Summary: Brienne is still alive.Amazingly, so is Jaime.Written after 8x02 as speculation, if you're emotional after 8x04 and need a fixit this can also be that





	Here, At The End Of All Things

**Author's Note:**

> Listen. I'm normally one to rein in the schmaltz and try not to go overboard.... but sometimes you just gotta indulge it. This is absolutely and 100% the most self-indulgent thing I've ever posted but after that episode I feel like that's okay.
> 
> (yes the title is a lotr ref I just rewatched Return of the King)

She's still alive.

It's a relief - an overwhelming, gut-wrenching relief - but not a surprise. She was good when he last fought her and that was years ago. She's done all sorts of things since then. Beaten the Hound. Located the Stark girls.

He's also still alive, which _is_ a surprise. Without being unnecessarily pessimistic, Jaime hadn't expected to get this far. In all honesty, he hadn't been sure that Daenerys Targaryen and Brandon Stark wouldn't have thrown him out Winterfell - but here he is, finally doing the right thing. It’s taken him long enough.

But the sun has risen and set since the white walkers first attacked and Winterfell is still standing, along with most of its defenders. They've suffered losses, but have survived the first wave. He’s certain the glimmers of hope won’t last – whatever happens tomorrow, or this week, or this month, they still have a long winter ahead – but it makes a pleasant change from the dreadful anticipation of previous days. At least they can say they resisted the first attack; whatever comes next. It’s funny, the optimism that living a day longer than expected can bring.

He goes to find Tyrion, but his brother is trapped in strategy meetings and Jaime’s not foolish enough to join in. Sansa Stark might have granted him clemency, but he’s well aware that Daenerys wasn’t happy about it.

There isn’t anyone else in the castle he’d like to talk to, so he goes to find Brienne.

(Tyrion’s company was meant as a distraction. And, well, because Jaime’s started to feel a little guilty that all their private conversations recently have gone awry. Surely, at times like these, spending time with the one family member who doesn’t hate you should take precedent.)

And, well, he hasn’t been sure what to say to Brienne now. Back when they all thought they’d be dying the next day, he was trying very hard not to do anything stupid. The last thing he wants is for her to think he’s only being sincere because he thinks he won’t live long enough to regret it. But then he should have known himself well enough to guess he wouldn’t be able to stay away. At this rate, she’s going to think he’s following her.

 

 

She opens the door after his second knock. It feels oddly invasive to come to her quarters, but he couldn’t find her down in the yard. It wasn’t until Podrick said that she’d been injured and would be tending to it that he thought to look inside.

‘Ser Jaime.’ She opens the door a little wider. She’s dressed for training, with a bandage secured around her right arm.

‘Ser Brienne,’ he says, and she looks away, the hint of a bashful smile on her face. If he’d known how good it felt to make her smile he would have stopped annoying her long ago.

‘I heard you were injured,’ he adds, nodding to her arm. ‘Nothing serious, I hope?’

‘I’ll be fine. Thank you.’

‘You did well,’ he continues, trapped in hideously formal mode of address. ‘To command troops in the face of that kind of enemy. There are many who would not have had your courage.’

She looks down, and then up at him. ‘Is there something you want? Or are you attempting to prove you can make it five minutes without insulting me?’

He manfully does not point out that they accomplished as much the night before the battle. Instead, he clears his throat. ‘I think we both know that I would not be here at all if it were not for you.’

‘You have saved my life enough times. There is no debt – ’

‘That’s not what I mean.’ Gods, why did he start this conversation? There is no way that this ends well for him.

She looks at him. There’s light spilling through the window behind him, illuminating her short hair and brilliant blue eyes.

Does he even need to say anything else? She knows him better than anyone – save, perhaps, Tyrion – and he’d like to think he knows her. The knighthood might have been Tormund’s idea, but Jaime’s willing to bet that no one else in that room could guess how much it meant to her.

‘I should never have become a better man – I should never have _wanted_ to – were it not for you,’ he says. The admission is horrifying to make, mostly because now it is hanging in the air between them he can’t take it back. He trusts her not to be cruel here, but if she looks at him now with pity – well, he’ll never be able to speak to her again. He’ll have to get himself killed in battle or move to Qarth or something.

‘I meant what I said to the queen,’ she says, steadily. ‘There is nothing you need to prove to me.’

‘I think,’ Jaime says, because when else is he going to get the chance, ‘there is one more thing.’

He steps in, but she meets him halfway. That is the most wonderful part – not that she had perhaps expected it, given how embarrassing he’s been the past few days – but that she accepted it, wants it. He can hear the breath rising in her chest as her lips meet his, her hands coming to rest on his neck. It is so natural, so easy, to the point where it seems absurd that they have never done this before.

They break apart for a moment and he _gazes_ at her, not caring that she must be able to read his face. She could ask anything of him right now and he would do it without a second thought.

‘Jaime,’ she says softly, her expression more unguarded than he’s ever seen it. No _ser_ , just his name, just _Jaime._

A sharp breath in and he’s kissing her again, his golden hand on her waist and his other on her shoulder. He has never wanted anyone this much.

Brienne stumbles slightly. Jaime follows, so that they’re awkwardly shuffling backwards into her chambers. He has the presence of mind to kick the door shut behind him, turns back and –

‘Wait,’ Brienne says. He freezes, heart in mouth. ‘Should we be doing this? We might be needed – ’

‘You’re injured,’ he reminds her. ‘I think, after everything, you deserve a break.’

She studies him for a moment, suddenly watchful again. The wall that dissolved when they kissed is abruptly re-forming.

‘What are we doing, Ser Jaime?’

‘I’m not good at talking about my feelings,’ Jaime says. ‘In fact, I’ve never really had to. But please. Believe me when I say that … I rode North because of you.’

She meets his eyes, finally understanding what he means. This time, she’s the one who moves first.

 

 

‘You should have told her about the wildfire,’ she says to him, some time later.

Jaime twists his head up to look at her. ‘What?’

‘The queen. You should have told her about Aerys’s plot to blow up King’s Landing.’

‘If you thought that, why didn’t you?’

Brienne shifts. Her bed wasn’t made for two people as tall as they are, so they’re more than a little crammed. Truth be told, Jaime’s impressed that they made it to the bed at all.

‘It didn’t feel like my story to tell.’

‘I suppose then you’d have to say how you heard it,’ he muses, ‘and somehow I don’t think the queen would trust your testimony so much if you began _I was in the bath with Jaime Lannister_.’

‘Exactly.’

He props himself up on his elbow. ‘Have I ever told you that you have the most remarkable eyes?’

‘It’s all right, Ser Jaime. You don’t have to – ’

‘Stop calling me _ser._ And it’s quite true. Even when I considered you a plague upon me I couldn’t help noticing them.’

She softens, slightly.

‘I thought you could tell how I felt,’ she says, after a minute. ‘Everyone else certainly could. When we first got back to King’s Landing, your sister – ’

‘Oh no. What did Cersei say to you?’

‘Nothing _really_. I think she exercised great restraint. Had you really no idea?’

‘Perhaps I thought you were too good for me.’

‘Mmhm?’

‘ _Perhaps_ ,’ he says unable to keep the smile off his face. And then, trying to sound like he’s only just thought of it, ‘Here’s an idea. How do you feel about marrying me?’

Brienne nearly falls out of the bed.

‘Is this you trying to do the honourable thing?’ she demands, her voice shaking with what he hopes is the good type of laughter.

‘Well, I could hardly sully the Maid of Tarth’s reputation and not own up to it. But I’m serious. Who knows if we’ll live through this war and we probably won’t. But if we do – well, I should miss your company if you were to skip off home.’

‘You’re serious.’

‘Yes.’ He takes a breath. ‘I am.’

‘I never planned on marrying anyone.’

‘Neither did I.’

‘But I will. If you mean it.’

‘I did.’

She leans in to kiss him again, and then breaks it off with a half-supressed snort of laughter.

‘What?’ he says. ‘Have you only just realised who your in-laws will be?’

‘No, I’m thinking of my father.’ She lies back, still laughing. He’s never seen her be this… _openly_ happy before. ‘If I write to tell him I’m marrying a Lannister, he’s going to think I’ve gone mad. He despaired of seeing me married at all, let alone – ’

‘Living it up at Casterly Rock’ he supplies, and she laughs even harder.

It might be the best sound Jaime’s ever heard.


End file.
